News and Announcements
Climate and Conservation Coffee
Join others in the Triangle area landscape conservation and climate change community for coffee and conversation on the 1st Thursday of each month at 9 am. In June, let’s meet at Cup a Joe in Mission Valley shopping center, probably at one of the outside tables. This is a new format for what used to be the Triangle Climate and Landscape Researchers’ Brown Bag lunch
New Handouts Summarize Tree Species Responses to Climate Change
NIACS created a series of 2-page handouts that summarize how individual tree species are expected to respond to climate change across the Northeast based on regional climate change vulnerability assessments. Each handout includes model projections based on future climate scenarios and models like the Climate Change Tree Atlas. We think they're a handy way to show a lot of information and get people thinking about managing climate change risk and opportunity. Handouts are available for subregions within each of the three project areas: New England and Northern New York Mid-Atlantic Central Appalachians
Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change Project Now Underway
A new study is underway in New Hampshire's northwoods that will further our understanding of management options for climate change adaptation. The Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) project is a collaborative effort among scientists and land managers to develop a network of experimental silvicultural trials in different forest ecosystem types throughout the United States, and the Second College Grant, located in the Northern Forest region of New Hampshire and owned and managed by Dartmouth College, is one of five ASCC study sites. The project was initiated last fall and launched into full-force this spring with pre-treatment data collection. Timber harvests began this summer to implement forest management treatments demonstrating the three adaptation options of resistance, resilience, and transition. Scientists and managers will be planting tree species that have been identified as future-adapted for the transition treatment next spring, which includes northern red oak, bitternut hickory, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, basswood, black birch, bigtooth aspen, and chestnut. To learn more about the Second College Grant ASCC project, contact the Site Leads Tony D'Amato or Chris Woodall.
A National Experiment in Manager-Scientist Partnerships to Apply an Adaptation Framework
Forest managers across the U.S. are faced with implementing adaptation strategies in the face of severe droughts, wildfires, and other climate-related impacts.
Online Screening of "One Stick at a Time
This film follows land managers in the Methow Valley, Washington for over a year, from forests to rivers, from fires to snowfall, from beaver capture to release as they try to come to grips with the impacts of climate change and the possible adaptation options right in front of them.
The Adaptation Workbook - Building Your Climate Adaptation Plan
A collaboration between the Climate Learning Network and the Climate Science Initiative, this webinar provides an overview of the Adaptation Workbook, an online, interactive, and practical workbook that helps land managers develop their own custom built climate change adaptation plans (www.adaptationworkbook.org).
Global Change Monitoring Portal Released
A new Portal provides scientists and the general public with access to information about the existence and operation of programs that monitor the effects of global change processes, such as climate and land use change, on important air, land, and water resources.
Northeast Climate Science Center Regional Science Meeting 2017
For our Regional Science Meeting, we will gather our scientists and partners to reflect on our collaborative work to incorporate climate science in the management of natural and cultural resources in the Northeast and Midwest and determine future directions and needs for our region.
Scientists: Strong evidence that human-caused climate change intensified 2015 heat waves
Human-caused climate change very likely increased the severity of heat waves that plagued India, Pakistan, Europe, East Africa, East Asia, and Australia in 2015 and helped make it the warmest year on record, according to new research published today in a special edition of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
What is Ecological Drought? Exploring its impacts on natural and cultural resources
In 2017 the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC), in partnership with the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC), will be dedicating their webinar series to ecological drought with presentations from NCCWSC and the DOI Climate Science Centers (CSCs).
The U.S. Global Change Research Program Wants to Hear From You
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) seeks public comment on the draft of its Climate Science Special Report (CSSR).
Looking Forward: Priorities for Managing Freshwater Resources in a Changing Climate
An updated report addressing ways to build resilience to climate change for water resources has been released by the federal Water Resources and Climate Change Workgroup.
USGS Study Reveals Interactive Effects of Climate Change, Invasive Species on Native Fish
A new USGS study shows non-native Brown Trout can place a burden on native Brook Trout under the increased water temperatures climate change can cause.
Climate-Smart Seedlot Selection Tool Webinar: Reforestation and Restoration for the 21st Century
This project’s main objective is to produce an interactive mapping application that will help forest managers match seedlots with planting sites.
New Web Tool Provides Climate-Smart Seedlot Selection Recommendations
The U.S. Forest Service, Oregon State University, and the Conservation Biology Institute have launched a free web-based decision-support tool to help natural resource managers match seedlots (seed collections from a known origin) with planting sites based on climatic information.
Managing Climate Change Refugia to Protect Wildlife
Natural and cultural areas that will remain similar to what they are today -- despite climate change -- need to be identified, managed and conserved as “refugia” for at-risk species, according to a study published today in PLOS One.
In Hot Water: Climate Change is Affecting North American Fish
Climate change is already affecting inland fish across North America -- including some fish that are popular with anglers. Scientists are seeing a variety of changes in how inland fish reproduce, grow and where they can live.
Southern Appalachian Forest Water Yield Down since 1970s
Climate change and forest disturbances are threatening the ability of forested mountain watersheds to provide the clean, reliable, and abundant fresh water necessary to support aquatic ecosystems and a growing human population.
Climate Science Centers and U.S. Geological Survey National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center—Annual report for 2015
2015 was another great year for the Department of the Interior (DOI) Climate Science Centers (CSCs) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) network.
Mountain Streams Offer Climate Refuge
A new study offers hope for cold-water species in the face of climate change. The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, addresses a longstanding paradox between predictions of widespread extinctions of cold-water species and a general lack of evidence for those extinctions despite decades of recent climate change.